As I sit here, wondering whether or not And Just Like That… was the best reboot of a much loved cult favourite my eyes have ever seen, I couldn’t help but wonder: Was this the peak moment of my life so far?
This is genuinely the most Carrie Bradshaw moment of my career so far. After watching the premiere episode of SKY and HBOs Just Like That, the newest chapter from Sex And The City, at London’s Bvlgari hotel in the middle of Knightsbridge, I rang my editor and proclaimed ‘I MUST WRITE ABOUT THIS’ before flagging down a Zipcar and driving to Soho to sit here now and write about it’s majesty in full glory.
Warning: Spoilers for the first episode of And Just Like That ahead!
Set in the current world, post pandemic, the gang don’t shy away from tackling the elephant in the room in the first ten minutes. Samantha’s absence is sorely missed, as it transpires that she has moved to London after being fired by Carrie. Yikes. Carrie and Miranda explain to each other, but almost through the camera to us in the real world, how they’ve been texting and calling Samantha for months, only to be ghosted by her. No contact. It felt sad to witness the girls talking about the lack of Samantha in their lives. Who knows, potentially hinting that this is close to the stars’ real hearts rather than just their characters following the real-life fallout between Kim Cattrall and the cast back in 2018.
What was the real shock of the first episode is the speed, wit and pace that the show has managed to continue from its first six series’ as Sex And The City. Carrie’s dry one liners, Miranda’s easy breezy intellectual charm and Charlotte’s anal attention to detail all still punching through in the first ten minutes as if they’d never left our screens.
The show also stars non-binary actor Sara Ramirez, which is a breath of fresh air as they’re seemingly a main player in the series. Sara Ramierz plays Che Diaz, Carrie’s on air podcast host. Ramirez is known for their role on Greys Anatomy, and came out as non-binary last year on Instagram.
The first episode explains that the podcast Carrie works on has a ‘cis woman, a cis man and a non-binary genderqueer perspective’ as the three hosts discuss modern topics of sex, romance, love and work. It’s embarrassingly on the nose, as if you have ever spent at least 3 minutes with someone who works in the media industry you’ll know that the words ‘patriarchy’, ‘podcast’ and ‘privilege’ will come up at least 32 times.
The show promises queer stories galore. Willie Garson’s untimely death in September at just 57 provided a heartfelt moment as we saw his character Stanford grace our screens, sadly for the last time. Sarah Jessica Parker paid her tributes after his death on Instagram, sharing that they would both ‘laugh into the night’ on set in Carrie’s apartment.
Purposefully, I hadn’t read anything about the series before attending the screening and I was so excited to finally see LGBTQ+ representation in the show. Not just dabbling with illicit same-sex liaisons or it’s infamous horror show of an episode with Samantha and the sex workers. Yes, SATC has had its problems in the past with representation, but this new chapter seems to have learnt from its mistakes and is sharing that learning with us through this new, modern, and more socially aware series.
As we see remakes making their way into our landscape one week at a time, from live action films to re-booted much loved series like Gossip Girl, And Just Like That has thrown it’s Manolo Blahnik into the ring, and it’s winning. It is clunky and cringey, with Miranda having a toe curling exchange with her new professor, Dr Nya Wallace played by The Morning Show star Karen Pittman about her braids and Blackness that left the audience watching shouting for it to stop.
It picks up all the tropes that we live with day to day, from spending too much time on Instagram, to deciding what shoes to wear, to finding your Peloton instructor fit. Often at times when TV shows and films try to speak in the present moment it has the same energy as when your mum thinks that young people still say ‘bruv’ or ‘bro’. Although And Just Like That is about women in their fifties trying to stay themselves, and not be strayed by youth, it doesn’t feel cringey. It feels real. It’s honest.
Much like SATC in the 90s, it’s trailblazing another conversation around womanhood, sexuality and ownership of desire, but this time from a fuller perspective. Not just from the viewpoint of rich white women in New York who can somehow spend their whole salary on dinners out and Louboutins.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not breaking boundaries that haven’t been crossed before, but if you’re expecting shallow, frigid conversation about shoes and sex, you’re going to be disappointed. It’s evolved with the time, whilst still keeping that sexy, quick, New York frivolity that we all grew to love about Sex And The City.
And Just Like That… premieres on Sky Comedy in the UK tonight at 9pm
